Scottish oil worker killed during a carjacking incident in Rio do Janeiro

The feeling of insecurity in Brazil's main cities peaked again last week when it was reported that a British oil worker had been shot dead by two men in Rio de Janeiro, a Scottish newspaper reported Saturday.

Peter Campsie, 48, from Montrose in Scotland, was killed last Wednesday in an attempted carjacking as he was returning home after a business meeting, the Aberdeen-based Press and Journal newspaper reported.

The incident took place in the neighboring city of Niterói, located across the Guanabara Bay from the city of Rio de Janeiro. The carjackers reportedly fled the scene empty-handed.

Campsie, who worked as operations manager for Diamond Offshore Drilling International, was shot twice as he attempted to leave his car, the newspaper reports.

The father-of-three lived in Macaé, a city to the northeast of Rio and center of Brazil's offshore oil industry, and had been in Brazil for 16 years.

A spokesperson for the U.K. Foreign and Commonwealth Office said in a statement: “We were made aware of the death of a British national in Brazil on 2 April. We stand ready to provide consular assistance to the family at this difficult time.”

The news came as Brazil poured nearly 3,000 federal troops into the Maré favela (shantytown) complex in Rio's North Zone, a strategically-important area crisscrossed by arterial routes and located near the city's main international airport.

Security forces are taking over the occupation of the area from military police following violent clashes with armed criminal gangs. The area, around 10 square kilometers sits alongside vital city thoroughfares to the center, near to which the city's Maracanã World Cup stadium is located, and to Barra da Tijuca, the main site for the 2016 Olympics.